Window-blind



A. BARKER.

v WINDOW BLIND. No. 319,664. Patented June 9, 1885..

Fig.1?" Fig. 2.

witnesse5:- Inventor:

N. PETE mn-Lhbogrlphlr. Wuhlngton. 0.0.

UNITE AS BURiY BARKER, OF PEEKSKILL, N EWV YORK.

WINDOW-BLIND.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ASBURY BARKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peekskill, in the county of \Vestchester and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Window-Blinds, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to window blinds which have movable slats. As ordinarily made the pivot or tenon of the slat is formed of a diameter no greater than the thickness of the slat, (the latter being thin, so as to be light,) and is therefore slight and easily broken, especially after being newly painted, because the paint runs into the socket, and as the tenon, even if very loose, always rests against one side of the socket, a very little paint serves to cement it, so that the effort to turn the slats often breaks their tenons. In the ordinary blind considerable care is required in their manufacture, in order to secure just the requisite amount of friction in the bearings to hold the slats in any certain posit-ion. Said friction is obtained by making the fiat ends of the tenons abut against the flat bottoms of the sockets in the stile, and unless great exactness is attained the result is not satisfactory.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide a larger and stronger tenon, and consequently stronger slat; second, to remove or reduce the tendency to sticking that occurs from paint; and, third, to insure requisite friction of the tenon. I attain these objects, the first, by making the slat with a longitudinal rib through its middle on both sides, and thereby furnish material of which to form a tenon of larger diameter, and at the same time strengthen the slat without adding materially to its weight; the second, by making the end of the tenon and the bottom of.the socket correspondingly conical, and counter-boring the socket for a short distance, so that there may be a space or clearance of about one-sixteenth of an inch all around the tenon at the point where paint would interfere, the conical bearing serving to keep the tenon central at all times. The third object is attained by the conical bearing just described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view of part of a slat and stile, the latter sectional. Fig.

2 is an end view of part of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side sectional view, and Fig. 4 a front view,

of the socket in the stile. I

Si milar-letters refer to similar parts throughout.

A, Fig. 1, is the blind-stile. D is the slat having the rib 0 formed on it, and having at each end the tenon or pivot c. The diameter of the tenon. is somewhat greater than the main part of the slat, and this thickness being continued from one tenon to the other through the length of the slat forms the bead or rib. The-end 0f the tenon c is conical, as shown.

E a is the socket in the stile, the part E being made about one-eighth of an inch larger than the tenon. a is the conical part of the socket, and I prefer it made not quite so tapering as the tenon, so that when fitted together the large diameter only of the two come into contact, thereby insuring more friction.

The conical bearing, as may be seen, does away with the necessity of exactness in the fitting of the slats, for if the latter are a shade too long the bearings will allow of a little forcing, and if they are a little short there is still ample surface of friction. The conical bearing also keeps the tenon central in the chamber E, so that even if the latter should become filled'with paint the mass would be too thick to harden enough to give trouble without a greater lapse of time than would ordinarily occur.

The ribs 0 serve to strengthen the slat, and also add to its appearance.

I am aware of the previous use of a recessed socket in a window-blind, as in the patent of H. Brotherton, No. 298,170, 1884.; but the recess is-used only to receive a closefitting enlargement of the tenon, which is designed for additional strength.

I am also aware of the use of metallic attachable conical tenons, &c., in window-blinds, as in the patents of B. F. Hall, No. 279,379, 1883, and A. L. Hill, N 0. 224,908, 1880.

1. A blind-slat on which are formed tenons, partly cylindrical and partly conical, the former being the part immediately joining the slat, substantially as shown and described.

2. A socket for a blind-slat tenon, having chamber, E, larger in diameter than the tenon, an inner conical portion, and an outer chamsubstantially as shown and described. her greater in diameter than the tenon substantially as shown and described. 7 ASBURY BARKER 5 3. A blind consisting of slats having ten- Witnesses:

ons with conical ends, and stiles with corre- W. A. HUNT, spondingly-shaped inner sockets, and an outer MARVIN B. SMITH. 

